A congressman from Illinois and a confidante of Lincoln and Grant during the Civil War, Elihu Washburne was appointed Minister to France in 1869, arriving in Europe shortly before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. Michael Hill, co-producer of Ken Burns's PBS series The Civil War and a historical consultant for the HBO production of David McCullough's John Adams, tells the remarkable story—largely through Washburne's erudite diary entries, letters, and dispatches—of how he aided his countrymen and other foreign nationals when Paris was devastated first by siege and then by the revolutionary Commune. Recognizing that he was a witness to history, Washburne endured bombardments, brutally cold weather, dwindling food supplies, bouts of ill health, and long separations from his family. He observed the plight of starving women and children, riots in the streets, senseless executions, and countless acts of violence and bloodshed, while helping thousands to escape the city.

"Thanks to the archival and editorial wizardry of Michael Hill, Washburne's long-forgotten account of the Siege and Commune of Paris is available at last—a terrific and mesmerizing read."—Nathaniel Philbrick